Written by She stole my heart, she calls me Daddy:
Life with Genevieve has always been filled with love and so many happy times, it’s been an incredible journey I’m so happy to continue. Many in the world of Autism or with a child that has a developmental delay or with special needs would beg to differ in that this lifestyle is ‘the best in the world’. But, I wouldn’t change it for anything. Many times Anne Mari is up late at night/all night with her and many times things we’d like to do become very secondary due to her needs, but isn’t that the way it is with all kids? Why do people have to look at children such as Genevieve as ‘delayed’ and ‘difficult’ when kids with no disability at all can be a handful – getting in trouble quite often, lack manners or respect, desire to succeed, and having so much to say that’s hardly intelligible with new slang coming out by the day that many parents would pay for a mute button if at all possible! I type that as I laugh, knowing that as much as our kids can be overwhelming in one way they can also overwhelm us with love – and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a disabled child or not – Love is Love. I got the greeting of a lifetime after missing my girls so much while on the road.
The love children show can bring you to your knees in tears. Genevieve did that just last night. After being gone for 10 days I returned knowing that she was very happy watching videos of her laughing away and smiling as her mom spoke of Daddy coming home. Often I wonder who it’s more difficult on when we are apart. The young teen that people think has no cognition of what’s going on or the adult that’s been alive for a half-century that knows exactly what’s going on. By far, this child misses her daddy far more than any ‘Autism Expert’ would like to admit. As she came to greet me her Mom asked her “Did you miss Daddy” a hard head nod followed, I told her I loved her and kissed the side of her temple asking her “Do you love Daddy” – I didn’t expect a response as we’ve never gone into asking her about whether she loves anyone, it’s not generally an emotion displayed by the severely autistic. “Des” she vocalized with a head nod that was so intense. “Of course I love him” was how I interpreted it. Without a doubt, it was one of those times in the world of special kids like her, or with any child for that matter, when you break out the Kleenex. Kids show the purest form of love there is, and to have it coming from a ‘nonverbal’ severely autistic child? Wow, a moment I’ll never forget. Never…
Generally, we don’t see anywhere near that much empathy in severely autistic children. Genevieve also has Severe Intractable Epilepsy and as many know, like her Daddy, she uses Cannabis Oils for medicine. But she does vary from me quite a bit in that medication protocol. Unlike myself, Genevieve has been fully weaned off of ALL pharmaceuticals! These are exciting times as the beautiful and amazing Cannabis plant and its extracts relieve many of the necessity to use pharmaceuticals. We all know the risks but many aren’t aware that a vast majority of Rx Medications are known to be carcinogenic aka they cause Cancer. This isn’t a theory, it’s a proven fact as many are listed under the state of California’s well-known ‘prop 65 items known to the state to cause cancer. Many other states have similar lists and laws that require signage at locations that carry any items known to cause cancer – except pharmacies. Why would they be excluded? A question I ask often but there’s never a reasonable answer.
Back to Autism and Genevieve, her love is so intense. She’ll show us quickly who’s good and who’s not. It’s intense how she’ll literally show us who she wants to be around by how she’ll perform tasks and get her work done. What’s really intense is she seems to know who’s got the dark past and who doesn’t, and quickly. Children with Autism and adults as well are often discounted by society when indeed they are the masters of it! I know many people but I rarely hear from the Autistic adults I know in regards to who said what or who’s doing what, more so I’ll hear pertinent details of who, what, why, when, and where. It’s much easier to get the facts and straight up answers. Of course this is the high functioning crowd that many aren’t even aware are on the Autism Spectrum unless they let them know. With the younger more severe kids and adults, many especially at Genevieve’s find great difficulties in the ability to understand why others do what they do or even care, seemingly much more of a challenge to reach outside of self, after all that’s exactly what the word means. In ancient Greece the word ‘autos’ means self. Then in the late 1700’s the ‘ism’ was added which has a definition of: ‘a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement’. It’s hard to look at the two words that create Autism and see a disability, rather I see many abilities that others do not and will never have.
Genevieve continues to make progress and continues to turn the heads of those that did not believe Cannabis Oils would change her life or any others. She continues to be the face of change and has no care in the world about the who, what, where, when or why – she’ll leave that to us folks that over think things. We’re always worried about tomorrow and thinking of yesterday but for Genevieve it’s the here and now always. She’s taught me the biggest lesson in the world and that’s live for the day. We both have Epilepsy so I can use the words “Seize every moment you can of happiness and joy” without someone getting offended – we both use Cannabis oil and cannabinoid protocols to make sure those are moments of joy and not moments in the hospital!
I still can’t believe how boldly she declared she loves her Daddy. She already had my heart… I’d do anything to make her life better, and I’m working hard on that now. My goal? To buy her a carousel. Yes, the entire ride and a place to house it. I like to think small and work up to something bigger – like an amusement park just for her and other kids with Autism totally catered to their specific needs and not to the world abound that has all the places in the world to go to… We need to concentrate on those that need help and forget about what we personally need or want. Just leave yourself, there’s a certain freedom in that.
Thank you for reading,
Mike Robinson, Medicinal Cannabis Patient & Activist. But mostly? Genevieve’s Daddy
Sign up to receive informative and exciting email updates from Mike's Medicines!
You can sign up for our mail list here:
Didn't find what you are looking for?
Find exactly what you want to when you want it.
Browse through our archives by date, category or by entering a topic in the provided search field.
Archives
Categories
More to come as we have time to add them – there’s 100’s of additional publications!
